DECEMBER 15
37: Birthdate of Nero Claudius Augustus Germanicus 5th emperor of Rome. While legend remembers him as the emperor who fiddled while Rome burned, Jews will remember him as the ruler who was emperor when the Great Revolt began in 66. Nero had appointed several of the incompetent governors who had helped create the conditions for the revolt. He also chose Vespasian as the general to put down the rebellion. Nero died in 68 during the rebellion. His untimely death bought the Jews some breathing space as Vespasian broke off the combat to take part in a coup that would put him on the throne. It was his son, Titus who actually destroyed the Temple when combat.
921(6th of Tevet, 4682): Rav Saadiah Gaon cautioned today cautioned the Jews of Egypt to reject the religious calendar adopted by Rabbi Aaron ben Meir, head of the Palestinian yeshiva in Ramleh
1467: Stephen III of Moldavia who “treated the Jews with consideration” and appointed Isaac ben Benjamin to successively more responsible positions defeated Matthias Corvinus of Hungary at the Battle of Baia.
1565: Five years before he was Regius Professor of Hebrew of at Oxford, Thomas Kingsmill, the son of Sir John Kingsmill “was appointed public orator and “orated for the visit of Elizabeth I of England to Oxford in 1566, during which he gave a very long historical speech.”
1583(30thof Kislev, 5334: Fifty-year old Judah Abravanel, the grandson of Judah Abravanal and the brother of Jacob Abravanel passed away at Ferrara. (He is one of a long line of Sephardic Jews to have this name which is not unusual given the naming customs used by the Jewish people)
1640: Coronation of King John IV of Portugal. Don Fernando Mendes, a Marrano, was his court physician. He was also the court physician to Catrina, King John's daughter who married King Charles II of England. Don Fernando also served the English King making him one of the few physicians to ever serve three reigning monarchs.
1647(18thof Kislev, 5408): Isaac de Castro was put to death at an auto-de-fe by the Inquisition for the crime of teaching Judaism to conversos. De Castro had arrived in Bahia (then under Portuguese control) from Amsterdam through Dutch Brazil. After being ‘recognized as a Jew he was arrested by the Inquisition and sent to Lisbon.” On the day of his death he “was led, together with five fellow-sufferers, to the stake. In the midst of the flames he called out in startling tones, "Shema' Yisrael! [Hear, O Israel!] The Lord our God is One!" With the word "Echad" (One), he died.”
1734: Daniil Pavlovich Apostole who was the Hetman of the Cossacks on both sides of the Dnieper River passed away. When Catherine I expelled the Jews from the Ukraine in 1727, Apostol led a move to modify the law. He and the other Cossacks had learned the hard way that they needed Jewish merchants if their economy was to grow. Thanks to his efforts, the edict was modified so that the Jews could participate in the various fairs held in the area.
1751: Benedict XIV issued “Probe te memisse,” a papal bull establishing the rules for baptizing Jews. In case there was any doubt about this Pope’s attitude towards Jews, 4 years later he published “Beatus Andreas” which beatified Andreas von Rinn a child who was the alleged victim of a ritual murder committed by Jews in 1462. The allegation of ritual murder was the key requirement for this beatification,
1762(29thof Kislev, 5523): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1762: As Jews prepare to kindle the sixth Chanukah, Benjamin Franklin wrote to James Bowdoin today expressing his “great pleasure” with the College Poems that his future comrade in the American Revolution had sent him.
1765(3rdof Tevet, 5526): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1767(24thof Kislev, 5528): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah
1772 (19th of Kislev, 5533): Reb Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezeritchsecond leader of the Chassidic movement, successor to the Baal Shem Tov and spiritual mentor of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, known for his scholarship, piety, and asceticism passed away. There is no way that we can do justice to the contribution of this sage and urge you to spend time studying about him.
1773(1stof Tevet, 5534): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah observed as Colonials in Boston decide what to do about the tea laden ship sitting in the harbor.
1778(26thof Kislev, 5539): Second Day of Chanukah observed for the third time during the American Revolution.
1779: While “serving as a volunteer in Captain Verdier's regiment under Count Pulaski during the siege of Savannah” Benjamin Nones, the native of Bordeaux who had moved to Philadelphia, “received a certificate for gallant conduct on the field of battle” today.
1784(2ndof Tevet, 5545): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1787: The Bristol Journal reported that Lord George Gordon, the English noblemen who converted to Judaism with the name of Yisrael bar Avraham Gordon, has been living in Birmingham since 1786 where “unknown to every class of man but those of the Jewish religion, among whom he has passed his time in the greatest cordiality and friendship...he appears with a beard of extraordinary length, and the usual raiment of a Jew... his observance of the culinary preparation is remarkable.” Furthermore, “He was surrounded by a number of Jews, who affirmed that his Lordship was Moses risen from the dead in order to instruct them and enlighten the whole world...It appears that (he) has officiated as a chief of the Levitical Order..."
1791: The Bill of Rights, the first
1797: In Germany, Eva Katz and Salomon Reiss gave birth to “Salomon Reiss” who died at the age of three.
1800(28thof Kislev, 5561): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1800(28thof Kislev, 5561): Three year old Salomon Reiss passed away today.
1806: Rothschild wrote to the Landgrave pledging his support to the German prince and offering to intercede on his behalf when Napoleon visits Frankfurt.
1810(18thof Kislev, 5571): Parashat Vayishlach
1810: Birthdate of Philadelphia publisher Abraham Hart who later went into the manufacture of “button-hole” machines after marrying Rebecca Cohen Isaacks and who was President of Congregation Mikvah Israel,
1812: Dover Schneuri began serving has the leader of Chabad Lubavith, following the in the footsteps of his father Shenur Zalman of Liadi
1812: In London, Helena Moses and Moses Levy gave birth to Joseph Moses Levy the editor and publisher who turned the failed Daily Telegraph & Courier into the famous and highly successful Daily Telegraph.
1814(1stof Tevet, 5575): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Seventh Day of Chanukah
1819: Twenty-year old Kitty Etting, the daughter of Rachel Gratz and Solomon Etting married twenty-two year old Benjamin I Cohen today after which they had eleven children.
1816(25thof Kislev, 5577): Chanukah is celebrated in the United States for the last time under President James Madison as the country enters into “the era of good feelings.”
1819: Birthdate of Daniel Abramovich Chwolson the native of Vilna who became a noted Orientalist with a proficiency in Arabic. He also was a staunch defender of his co-religionists especially when it came to Blood Libel accusations at Saratov and Kutais which spurred several of his works including “On Several Medieval Accusations Against The Jews.”
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4383-chwolson-daniel-abramovich
1820: In London, Esther Daninos and Solomon Abecasis gave birth to Aaron Abecasis, the husband of Esther Rodrigues Brandon.
1824: Lewis Jacobs married Ranyer Simmons at the Great Synagogue today.
1826: Dr. Daniel Moses Levy Maduro Peixotto, Amsterdam born son of Cantor Moses Levy Maduro Peixotto, Cantor Judith van Samuel Peixotto and his wife Rachel Lopes Menes Peixotto gave birth to Isabela Peixotto who became Isaebella Seixas when she Benjamin Hyman Seixas.
1827(26thof Kislev, 5588): Parashat Vayeshev; Second Day of Chanukah
1827: Birthdate of Joseph Halévy, the native of Adrianople who gained famed as a French Orientalist and traveler
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/41219385?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21105449288733
1828: In Newington, London, Amelia and Morris Harris gave birth to Louisa Harris
1831: Seventy-six year old Hannah Adams, a Christina author who wrote History of the Jews in 1812, passed away in Brookline Mass.
1831: Joel ben Moses HaCohen married Shprintze bat Ashe HaLevi today at the Western Synagogue.
1835: Two days after she had passed away, Alice Abraham, the wife of Michael Abraham and mother of Samuel Abrahams was buried today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.
1837: Wilhelm Wolfsohn began the study of medicine in Leipzig today.
1842: In Richmond, VA, Isaac Abraham Levy, the London born son of Abraham Levy, ben Levie and Sarah Rachel Cornelia Levy and his wife Hannah Norris Levy gave birth to Cornelius Levy who may have served in the Confederate Army before his death in 1865.
1849: The third lodge of the Free Sons of Israel was formed under the name Ruben Lodge No. 3.
1854(24thof Kislev, 5615): The first candle of Chanukah is Kindles as the Allies lay siege to Sevastapool during the Crimean War.
1854: David Jacob Felsenthal, the German born son of Leah Wolf and Jakob Isaak Felsentahl who married Beier Gunebaum after the death of his first wife Johanna Grunebaum passed away today.
1857(28thof Kislev, 5618): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1857(28thof Kislev, 5619): David Jacob Felsentah, the German born on of Leah Wolf and Jakob Isaak Felsenthal who was the husband of Johana (bas) Abram Grunebaum with whom he had six children and Beier Grunebaum with whom he had another six children passed away today.
1857: The opera “Travatore” was performed tonight in New York with proceeds for the evening going to the Hebrew Benevolent Society.
1857: In Spitafields, London, Jane Silver and Henry Woolf gave birth to Charles Woolf.
1858: Abraham Freedman married Maria Jacobs today at the Great Synagogue.
1858: During “The Mortara Affair,” the New York Times published a letter U.S. Secretary of State Cass had written to Mr. Hart in which he compared President Buchanan’s decision not to join with the nations of Europe to bring pressure on the Catholic Church to return the boy to his parents with the activisits behavior of the United States during “the persecution of the Jews of Damascus” in 1840.
1859: Birthdate of Dr.Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, the Russian born Jewish linguist who created Esperanto.
http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/ludwigzamenhof.html
1860(2ndof Tevet, 5621): Parashat Miketz; Seventh Day of Chanukah
1860: In Manchester, England, Marcus and Rebecca (Vogel) Myers gave birth to Radcliffe graduate Esther Myers who became Esther Myers Andrews when she married Julius Andrews and who was active in the Council of Jewish Woman and Republican politics in Boston, MA.
1861: President Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Arnold Fischel of New York's Congregation Shearith Israel, saying “"I find there are several particulars in which the present law in regard to chaplains is supposed to be deficient, all which I now design presenting to the appropriate Committee of Congress. I shall try to have a new law broad enough to cover what is desired by you in behalf of the Israelites." Fischel had gone to Washington to get Lincoln’s support to change the law so that Jews could serve as Chaplains in the Union Army.
1862: During the Civil War, Army of the Potomac commanded by Ambrose Burnside suffered one of its worst defeats at the Battle of Fredericksburg which came to an end today. Company C of the 82nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment which had been formed by a group of Jewish volunteer soldiers under the name of the Concordia Guards was one of the units engaged in the battle. The regiment would be commanded by Colonel Edward S. Salomon, a Jewish immigrant from Germany, who may have been Chicago’s first Jewish lawyer and was the alderman for the Sixth Ward when the war broke out. Among other Jews serving during the battle was Jacob Ezekiel Hyneman, a native of Richmond, who was a solider with the Union Army and was wounded at Fredericksburg.
1863: In Poland, Joseph I and Zipporah Uttenberg gave birth to Israel Unterberg, who came alone to the U.S. in 1910 to join his parents and went on to become the “president of the National Butchers and Drovers Bank” and the president of the Jewish Education Association” while raising two sons and four daughters with his wife Bella Epstein,
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1934/05/02/94520698.pdf
1864: During the Civil War, the Battle of Nashville (TN) begins. Among the Union units are the 79thIndiana commanded by Colonel Frederick Knefler.
1865(27th of Kislev, 5626): Third Day of Chanukah observed for the first time during the Presidency of Andrew Johnson.
1866: In Greensberg, PA, Charles and Sara Falk gave birth to Maurice Falk the founder, with his brothers of Weirton Steel who married Selma Wertheimer after his first wife Laura Klinordlinger passed away and who, with his brother “established the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies at Pittsburg in 1912
1867: Esther Hellman Wallenstein, the founding President of the Hebrew Infant Asylum in New York and Solomon Wallenstein gave birth to Max Wallenstein.
1869: Esther Hellman Wallenstein, the founding President of the Hebrew Infant Asylum in New York and Solomon Wallenstein gave birth to Joseph Solomon Wallenstein
1870: Sir Saul Samuel completed his first term as Treasurer of New South Wales.
1871(3rd of Tevet, 5632): 8th day of Chanukah
1872: Eighty-year old Mary Anne Disraeli, 1st Vicountess Beaconsfield, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconsfield passed away today.
http://www.goodreads.com/characters/39155-mary-anne-disraeli
1873: It was reported today that The Jewish Chronicle has expressed support for conferring peerages on Sir Moses Montefiore and Baron Lionel Rothschild
1874: Birthdate of Russian native Michael Sherbrook, the actor known as Michael Shewzik who came to England at the age of 12 and “made his debut as an actor in productions of the Elizabethan Stage Society in 1898” before marrying Alice Isaac the second daughter of H.P. Isaac in 1903.
1875: Birthdate of Salt Lake City native William G. Watters, the owner of the Hospital Supply Company and the Watters Laboratories who was married to Lucille Watters with whom he had two daughters – Margaret and Ann.
1875: Birthdate of Kiev native Samuel Paley, the founder and long-time president of the Congress Cigar Company and the father of William S. Paley, the chairman of the board of C.B.S.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9A00EFDA143CEF3BBC4953DFB2668388679EDE
1876(29thof Kislev, 5637): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1876: It was reported today that a translation of the Greek New Testament into Hebrew is about to be published at Leipzig “for the use of the Orthodox Jews of Eastern Germany and Poland.” [No mention is made of why an Orthodox Jew would want a copy of the New Testament.]
1877: Birthdate of Bernhard Maissner, the Russian born ancestor of Cantor Benjamin Maissner and his nephew Israel Alter who was also a Cantor.
1879(30thof Kislev, 5640): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1879: It was reported today that the Young Men’s Hebrew Association will celebrate Chanukah with a reception at the Academy of Music.
1880: It was reported today that “the third reception” hosted by “the Young Men’s Hebrew Union will be held on Christmas evening.”
1880: Justice Kilbreth ordered Mrs. Lizzie Wenke to post a $200 bond to guarantee her good behavior or more specifically, that she would not attack Isaac Stern again.
1880: Birthdate of Rumanian native Mois H. Avram, the NYU trained engineer who in 1899 came to the United Sates where, as President of Fox Brothers International Corporation “took part in planning the reconstruction of the Port of Versailles” wrote several books including Patenting and Promoting Inventions while raising a son and two daughters with his wife Ernestine.
https://www.amazon.com/Launching-Enterprise-Avram-Mois-Herban/dp/1313273597
1881: “A very large assemblage of ladies and gentlemen, representing the best class of the Hebrew population” of New York “gathered in the Academy of Music” this “evening at the annual ball commemorating the celebration of Chanukah” sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association who raised over $6,000 for their building fund.
1881: Jacques Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffman” was performed for the one hundredth time today at the Salle Favart.
1881: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association hosted its annual Chanukah Ball this evening at the Academy of Music. (The celebration was held today, a Thursday, because Chanukah in 1881 began on Friday night and you could not have a ball on Shabbat)
1882: Birthdate of Helena Rubinstein famed American cosmetic manufacturer.
1883: Birthdate of David Abel, the native of Amsterdam who was the husband of Eva “Chava” Rayevskyand who served as cinematographer for over 110 films for RKO Pictures.
1883: Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the President of the Hebrew Union College delivered a lecture tonight on the subject of intermarriage in which he said “such marriages are not forbidden Mosaic law.”
1883: In Rochester, NY, Sabbath morning services at Berith Kodesh will be conducted in English for the first time.
1883: In a note published today, Ignatz Fishcel, a 23 year old unemployed German Jewish immigrant blames his decision to commit suicide on his sister and her husband
1883: In Paris, French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero and his wife gave birth to Henri Paul Gaston Maspero the sinologist who died in Buchenwald.
1884: It was reported today that the Hebrew Free School Association is now serving 1,959 children as compared to the 520 that it served when it began in 1876.
1884: It was reported today that newly elected officers of the Hebrew Free School Association included President M.S. Isaacs, Vice President Uriah Herrmann and Secretary Henry S. May.
1884: It was reported today that while speaking at event marking the 16thanniversary of the Presbyterian Hospital in New York, Reverend John Paxton said, “We are indebted to the Jews for many things, for human law and their teaching of the sacredness of life but not for hospitals. These are the sole creation of Christianity.” And then, in what can only be considered a bit of genteel anti-Semitism, he said that the “first hospital was founded…by the good Samaritan.”
1884: It was reported today that the officers of the newly formed Tenth Ward Society include: Joseph Blumenthal – President; Isaac Bernheimer and E.R.A. Seligman – Vice Presidents; Frederick Nathan – Treasurer; Lee Kohns – Secretary. The society will be conducting an audit of conditions of tenements in an area surrounded by Houston Street, Division Street, Norfolk Street and the Bowery. A report of the needed improvements and/or the failure to make them will be sent to the Board of Health and the Grand Jury. (This was part of an over-all attempt to improve conditions for immigrants. This particular ward had a large Jewish population which may have accounted for the makeup of the officers.)
1884: It was reported today that Ludovic Halevy, the son of Leon Halevy, has been elected as a member of the French Academy.
1885: Birthdate of Lithuanian native Rebecca Kushner Paiewonsky, the wife of Isaac Paiewonsky and the mother of Ralph and Isidor Paiewonsky who was buried at the Altona Jewish Cemetery in the U.S. Virgin Islands when she passed away in 1963.
1885: In New York, Barnett and Dora Kriss Feinberg gave birth to Celia Feinberg who became Celia Rosenthal when she married Harry Rosenthal in 1913.
1885: The Ladies’ Fair, a fund-raiser designed to raise money for the Kindergarten and Industrial Schools of the Hebrew Free School Association opened this evening at the Metropolitan Opera House.
1886: “Hattie Kahn,” a “young and pretty French Jewess disappeared mysteriously from her employer’s residence at No. 46 West One Hundred and Twenty-sixth street” today.
1885: Thirty-one year old Carbondale, PA born lawyer and Phi Beta Kappa member Emanuel Cohen who is currently practicing in Minneapolis married Nina Morais today
1887: Birthdate of Lithuanian native and educator Saul Galinsky who in 1941 was brought to the United States by the Jewish Labor Committee after which “he became a teacher in the Workmen’s Circle School system” and the executive director the Jewish Encyclopedia while raising his son Victor with his wife Luba.
1887: Morris L. Kramer and Rcahel Elka Stikan gave birth to Sadie Kramer.
1887: It was reported today that in London a barber named Serne who is a Flemish Jew is on trial having been charged with setting fire to his shop on the Strand to collect on the insurance. Unfortunately, both of his sons died in the fire as well.
1888: “The model of the Nicaragua Interoceanic Canal which had been built by Vauix Carter, a Professor of Mechanics at the Hebrew Technological Institute” in Brooklyn has proven to be one of the most popular items on display at the annual fair sponsored by the American Institute.
1888: In “Kovno, Poland,” “Abraham Gershon and Rose (Glizer) Menacker gave birth “educator, author and Zionist Jacob Judah Ackerman the husband of Channa Emma Ginsberg who worked taught Hebrew School in Portland, ME and New Bedford before becoming the principal the Hebrew Institute in Wilkes-Barre, PA while “authoring a book of Biblical poems” and writing a “dramatic version of the Book of Esther.”
1889: “Musical Notes” described the upcoming performance of Halevy’s “La Juive” in New York as being “novelty of the week.”
1890: “Literary Notes” today described the upcoming publication of Memoirs of My Mayoralty, an illustrated work complete with photographs by Sir Henry Isaacs, the former Lord Mayor of London.
1890: Louis “Brandeis defined modern notions of the individual right to privacy in a path-breaking article he published with his partner, today in the Harvard Law Review on "The Right to Privacy."
1890: “Stringent orders have been sent to Russian Government officials in the Caucasus for the expulsion of all Jews who are not authorized to reside there.”
1891(14th of Kislev, 5652): Thirty-six year old accountant and author Jacob Judelsohn, a native of Marionpol, Russia and a resident of the United States since 1879 who served as Secretary of the Jewish Immigrant Protective Society and became a leader in the Jewish community taking an active role in meeting the needs of the newly arrived immigrants from Russia and Poland, passed away today in New York City.
1891: In Louisville, KY, Erna and Hilmar “Hillel” Ehrmann gave birth to Herbert Ehrmann, “the husband of Sara R. Ehrmann” who was the Harvard educated lawyer responsible for defending Sacco and Vanzetti which was the subject of his book The Untried Case.
https://www.amazon.com/Herbert-Brutus-Ehrmann/e/B0034QAP0M
1891: James Naismith introduces the first version of basketball, with thirteen rules, a peach basket nailed to either end of his school's gymnasium, and two teams of nine players. While Basketball may have had quintessential gentile origins it quickly became a part of Jewish life. According to Peter Levine, “Jewish involvement in basketball, especially between 1900 and 1950 was greater than in any other sport.” “By the late 1930’s...sportswriter identified it as the ‘Jewish’ game. According “Paul Gallico, the longtime sports editor the New York Daily News ... ‘Jews flock to basketball by the thousands’ because it placed ‘a premium on an alert, scheming mind… flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smart alikeness’’ traits naturally appealing to the ‘Hebrew with his Oriental background.’”
1892(26th of Kislev, 5653): Second Day of Chanukah
1892(26thof Kislev, 5653): Sixty-one year old Boston clothing store owner Leopold Morse and Democratic Party leader who represented Massachusetts in the House of Representatives passed away today.
1892: A petition is being circulated to gain the endorsement of prominent businessmen and professionals for the candidacy of Jacob P. Solomon, editor of the Hebrew Standard, to fill “the vacancy left on the police bench by Police Justice Daniel O’Reilly.
1892: The American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to meet in Philadelphia at which papers will be read by Professor Charles Gross of Harvard, Professor Cyrus Adler of the National Museum and Henrietta Szold from Baltimore.
1892: The Monetary Conference at Brussels which has considered a plan put forth by Austrian banker Albert de Rothschild is scheduled to come to an end without resolving any of the issue surrounding bimetallism.
1893: Plans for the upcoming meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society at Columbia University were published today.
1893(6thof Tevet, 5654): Thirty-three year old Gottlieb Adler who earned a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna in 1882 and who served as a professor there while working on matters related to electricity and magnetism, passed away today.
1894: In Jerusalem, Moshe Peretz and his wife gave birth to Haym Peretz, who fled to the United States in 1917 when the Turks discovered he was an Allied intelligence agent and after graduating from Johns Hopkins pursed a career in Jewish social work and education that included serving as the UJA director for the Bronx while raising his son Don with his wife Josephine.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/12/06/87278334.pdf
1894: Register Ferdinand Levy, Justice Alfred Steckler and Emanuel Friend were among those who attended the 20th“annual reception and ball of the New York Hebrew Mutual Benefit Association at the Central Opera House on East 67thStreet.
1894: Sir Julian Goldsmid a member of the House of Commons for the South Division of St. Pancras presided at a meeting of the Russo-Jewish Committee today where “private communications with relation to the condition of the Jews in Russia were presented.”
1894: A revival of “Quite an Adventure,” a one-act comic opera by Edward Solomon opened at the Savoy Theatre.
1894: Birthdate of Minsk born American feminist Fania Esiah Mindell, a pioneer in the movement to give women control over their own reproductive organs.
https://jwa.org/thisweek/oct/26/1916/fania-mindell-arrested-for-distributing-birth-control-material
1895: “The Hebrew Mechanics Association” is reported to be the sponsor of tonight’s concert at the Thalia Theatre in the Bowery.
1895: “A crowd of indignant men and women lined the sidewalk and the street in front of the Thalia Theatre tonight” upset by the additional charges being added for the tickets they were holding to see “a grand popular concert” given by the Hebrew Mechanics Association under the management of Maxz Hirsch.
1895: Among those performing tonight at “the second of the season’s concerts of the Arion” was Louis Blumenberg “who played for his first solo Max Bruch’s transcription of ‘Kol Nidre’” which with “his breadth of tone and smooth legato brought out the full sentiment of this sacred composition.”
1895: Those working at the booths of Educational Charity Fair sponsored by leading members of the Jewish community will have the day off today because Madison Square Garden, the venue where the fair is taking place, will be closed for the day.
1895: Excise Commissioner Julius Harburger of New York and Colonel W. L. Strong spoke at the dedication of the newly erected Temple Ahavath Sholom Beth Aaron in Brooklyn
1895: Plans were published today for a fund raiser to be held later this week for the benefit of the Hebrew Technical Institute.
1895: Birthdate of Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho
http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/128555/oscar-niemeyer-israel-and-two-jews-named-jacob/
1895: “Herter’s Heine Fountain” published today described the decision of the citizens of Dusseldorf and Mayence to reject a fountain in honor of the poet “because he was a Jew.”
1895: “Herr Ahlwardt Denounced” published today described the meeting at Allen Memorial Church where speakers including Methodist minister George Van Alystayne and Episcopal minister Frank M. North spoke out against the visiting German anti-Semite and defending the role of Jews as American citizens.
1896(10thTevet, 5657): Asara B’Tevet
1896: In Latvia, Marcus Mordechai Brachman and Chaya Mindel Brachman gave birth to Solomon Brachman, the husband of of Etta Brachman and ather of Malcolm Keys Brachman and Marilyn Hoffman who in 1905 came to the United States where he earned a degree from Marietta College and became a success businessman in Fort Worth, TX where he served as president of the Jewish Federation.
1897:The Federation of American Zionist Societies of New York, (FAZ) was formed today with Richard Gottheil as President and Herman Rosenthal and Rabbi Joseph T. Bluestone as vice presidents. Most remarkable and fortunate for the nescient American Zionist movement was the choice of secretary for the FAZ. Gottheil had been advisor, sponsor and friend to a young Columbia student who energetically and dynamically became the first Zionist secretary. His name was Rabbi Stephen Wise. For the next 45 years, Wise would become one of the enshrined, respected leaders of the American Zionist and World Zionist movements.
1899: Birthdate of Harold Abrahams, English athlete and Olympic gold medalist. Abrahams passed away in 1978. Abrahams gained posthumous fame when his Olympic exploits were portrayed in the film hit “Chariots of Fire.”
1899: Lieutenant General Sir Louis Jean Bols, the “Chief Administrator of Palestine” for the first six months of 1920 served today at the Battle of Colensco during the Boer War.
1900(23rdof Kislev, 5661): Parashat Vayeshev
1900: Birthdate of Paris native and CCNY graduate and teacher Percy Max Apfledbaum, the holder of Ph.D. from Columbia who was professor of organic chemistry and “found president of City College’s teaches union.
1900: In Hungary, following yesterday’s preliminary vote, members of the lower chamber of the parliament cast the “definitive vote” denying Lazăr Șăineanu's naturalization even though he had converted to facilitate his bid for citizenship.
1901: “PROF. ADLER CONVERTED TO SUNDAY OPENING” published today described an address delivered by Prof. Felix Adler before the Society of Ethical Culture at Carnegie Hall in which he stated that he had gone form “being a believer in keeping the saloons closed on Sunday” to taking the opposite view.
1902: Birthdate of Kiev native Nuta Kotlyarenko who gained fame as American fashion designer Nudie Cohn
http://www.nudiesrodeotailor.com/
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/nudie-19690628
1902: Robert Georg Alexander von Mendelssohn and Giulietta von Mendelssohn gave birth to Angelica von Mendelssohn
1902(30thof Kislev, 5678): Parashat Miketz; Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1902(30thof Kislev, 5678): Sixty-three year old Solomon Hirsh, “one of the founders of Fleischner, Mayer and Co., the largest wholesale dry goods company on the West Coast,” president of the Oregon State Senate and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire who along with his wife Josephine were early leaders of the early Portland, Oregon Jewish community passed away today.
1903: Mayor Charles F. Murphy is scheduled to formally open the fair sponsored by the Order of the Daughters of Jacob in the Grand Central Palace.
1903: Funeral services for Solomon Loeb who passed away on December 12thare scheduled to be held at his residence in New York at 9:30 this morning.
1904: In Brooklyn, Zemad and Annie Groden Bloomgarden gave birth to Kermit Bloomgarden, the CPA who became a successful producer.
1905: It was reported today that in Lodz, Cossacks dispersed the rioters who attacking Jewish shops and residences.
1905(17thof Kislev, 5666): Seventy-nine year old Georgiana Cohen, the unmarried daughter of Kitty Etting and Benjamin I. Cohen passed away today on what was the 86thanniversary of her parents marriage.
1905: The Jewish Chronicle reported today that “John Burns charged the Jews with oxlike submission to authority.
1905: As the violence against the Jews continues to escalate, a bomb was thrown at the postal telegraph offices at Radom, Poland.
1906(28thof Kislev, 5667): Parashat Miketz; Fourth Day of Chanukah
1906: Today,the National Geographic Society of the United States, which was primarily known for publishing a popular magazine, certified Peary's 1905-6 expedition” the crew of which included the surgeon Dr. Louis J. Wolff of Silverton, Oregon who had given up his work at the Cornell Dispensary and the Bellevue Dispensary to serve as the medical officer “with its highest honor, the Hubbard Gold Medal.”
1906: During the strike aimed at breaking the Beef Trust the butchers in Brownsville who have been on strike will continue to keep their shops closed today if the Williamsburg Retail Kosher Butchers and the New York and Harlem Retail Kosher Butchers have joined in the strike.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9407E6DC1331E733A25750C1A9649D946797D6CF
1907(10th of Tevet, 5668): Asara B'Tevet
1907: It was reported today that “The Jewish Historical Society is considering the question of a publish a commemorative volume containing a complete history Jewish emancipation in England” as part of the upcoming celebration of the 50thanniversary of the admission of Jews to Parliament.
1907: In Helsinki, Finland, future Russian Foreign Minister Nikolai Avksentev and his wife gave birth the artist Alexandra Pragel the wife of Alexander Pregel, an international dealer in radium and uranium and the sister-in-law of Boris Pregel.
http://www.bnphoto.org/pregel/Bio.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/28/us/alexander-pregel-uranium-dealer-dies-at-91.html
1909: In New York City "Miss Julia Richman, Superintendent of Schools on the Lower East Side has sent out an appeal for clothing for school children." Miss Richman is concerned that children lack warm clothing which is contributing to poor health.
1911: Today, in Philadelphia, despite a challenge by insurgents who supported Julia of Felstenthal of Chicago, “Sadie American, was re-elected Executive Secretary of the Council of Jewish Women” while Mrs. Caesar Misch of Providence, R.I> was re-elected President.
1911: “In recognition of his scientific research and services in advancement of medical sciences,” the Directorate of International Hygiene Exhibition in Dresden” awarded Dr. Myer Coplans, the Demonstrator in Public Health and Bacteriology at the University of Leeds” with an honorary diploma today.
1911: In Commemoration of his coronation, the King conferred “baronetcy on Sir Jacob Sassoon and appointed Robert Nathan, C.I.E., companion of the Order of the Star of India.
1912: In Philadelphia, founding of Shaari Shamayim Synagogue.
1912: Birthdate of “Monuments Man” Wolfgang Maehler.
https://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org/maehler-sgt-wolfgang
1912: Jacob P. Adler is scheduled to appear for the final time this evening at the Haymarket Theatre where he and his fellow Yiddish actors have be performing such works as “The Wild Man,” “Men and Women,” “The Stranger” and “God’s Punishment.”
1913: Two days after he had passed away, 54 year old Solomon Michaelson, the husband of Leah Michaelson whom he had wed in Russia and with whom he had had four children was buried today at the “Plashet Jewish Cemetery” in London.
1913: The Georgia Supreme Court heard Leo Frank’s appeal for a new trial.
1913:Birthdate of Muriel Rukeyser a challenging poet whose work mixed together radical politics and a spiritual quest. Rukeyser grew up in a middle-class home in New York City that for her was marked by silences and the absence of books. Rukeyser sought to experience the richness and messiness of life and to depict that richness and mess in her poetry. Her father's bankruptcy during the Great Depression cut short her college education, but in 1935, at the age of 21, she won the Yale Younger Poets Award for her first book, Theory of Flight. Her poetry brought her much success and much criticism. Embracing left-wing politics, she covered the second Scottsboro Boys trial and the Spanish Civil War. She traveled to North Vietnam and Korea and was jailed for protesting the war in Vietnam. She confronted the red-baiting of the McCarthy era and the strictures of conventional sexuality. Her poem "Letter to the Front" (1944) presented the challenge of modern Jewish identity with these words:
To be a Jew in the twentieth century
Is to be offered a gift. If you refuse,
Wishing to be invisible, you choose
Death of the spirit, the stone insanity.
Accepting, take full life.
1914(27thof Kislev, 5675): Third Day of Chanukah
1914: It was reported today that “the Jewish Relief Committee’s Executive Committee has appropriated $100,000 for immediate transmission for war relief as follows: $50,000 for Russia, $25,000 for Galicia and $25,000 for Palestine.
1914: When a Russian cruiser appeared outside the port of Jaffa today all “non-Moslems were ordered” by the Turkish government “to stay in their dwellings under the pain of death.” (This order really applied to the Jews many of whom were of Russian origins and whom the Turks did not trust because they feared the Jews were a “fifth column” that would help their Czarist enemies.)
1914: Birthdate of Anatole Abragam, the Latvian born French-physicist who wrote The Principles of Nuclear Magneism and 1982 winner of the Lorentz Medal.
1914: “Entire Nation Behind Frank” published today quotes an opinion from the Houston Chronical that “there is in the heart of the American people an inherent love of justice and fair play, and they are stirred with indignation if they believe any citizen has not received a square deal in the courts” and “the case of Leo M. Frank strikingly illustrates the truth of this statement” since “it is essential to recognize the right of any man to a fair trial -- which Leo Frank assuredly did not get.”
1914: “Frank Can Appeal Again, Says Lawyer” published today provided the opinion of Hooper Alexander the United States District and “an authority on constitutional law” that “Leo M. Frank can take his case before the United States Supreme Court on a writ of error from the first decision” by the Georgia Supreme Court.
1915: A fund raising campaign headed by Jacob Schiff is scheduled to come to an end.
1915: Allied forces began a full retreat from the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey, ending a disastrous invasion of the Ottoman Empire during which the Zion Mule Corps served with distinction along with individual Jewish soldiers including Sir John Monash of Australia.
1915: Birthdate of New York native Gilbert Kanter, an attorney who was an active member of the Federation of Jewish Philantrhopies.
1916: Greeks call up all Jews ranging from age19 to 30 for military service. The response was overwhelming.
1916: The Senate passed an immigration bill today that did not contain the exemption for the victims of religious discrimination – Armenians and Jews from Russia and Rumania – which had been part of the bill passed by the House of Representatives.
1916: French troops defeated the Germans at the Battle of Verdun during World War I. In the 1930’s monuments were erected to Jewish and Christian soldiers who were killed at Verdun. In May of 2004the memorial to Jewish soldiers who died in the Battle of Verdun was vandalized. Nazi slogans and symbols were scrawled on the memorial. In November 2004, a 22-year-old man was sentenced to a year in prison for perpetrating the attack. In June of 2006, a concert by the Ensemble Musique Oblique was held at the Verdun synagogue in memory of the Jewish soldiers of Verdun. French forces were commanded by General Petain. The victory at Verdun cemented his position in the pantheon of French military prowess. Petain would use this reputation to make peace with the Germans in World War II and to lead the government at Vichy which actively collaborated with the Nazis in bringing the Holocaust to France.
1916: Following a meeting of the Joint Distribution Committee it was reported today that all synagogues and temples would hear sermons on Shabbat calling for contributions for the fund to aid Jews suffering from the war.
1917(30th of Kislev, 5678): Parashat Miketz; Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1917: In New York City, Pauline “Paula” Munwies and David Ben Gurion “went before the clerk at City Hall… and were married in a brief, civil ceremony” which was not attended by any of their family or friends.
1917: Thanks to the half million dollars raised today which included a contribution of $41,421 from Jacob Schiff, “the campaign to raise $5,000,000 in New York for Jewish war relief and welfare work in the army and navy came to a triumphant close” today “when at the end of two weeks of labor, the five million was in hand with a slight margin over and more to come.”
1917: “According to a cablegram received” today in New York “by the Jewish Daily Forward from its Petrograd correspondent” that “Sholem Jacob Abramowitch, known to Jews all over the word as the ‘grandfather’ of modern Jewish literature, a title given to him by the late Sholem Aleichem” and who wrote under the the pen name of Mendele Moikher Seforim died last week in Odessa at the age of 81.
1917: Russia concluded an armistice with the Central Powers. Over 350,000 Jews served in the Russian army and an estimated 70,000 were killed during World War I. This armistice would take the new Communist Russian government out of the war. It would help ensure the Communist rule over Russia and all that that meant for Russian Jewry. At the same time, it enabled the Germans to move their troops to the Western Front where they made one last push to defeat the Allies. This effort failed which led to the defeat of Germany, the Versailles Treaty, the rise of Hitler and the Final Solution.
1917: “The successful close” today “of New York’s campaign for $5,000,000 for Jewish war relief and welfare work in the army and navy also bring to a successful conclusion the national campaign for $10,000,000 for war relief, to which total fourth of fifths of the money in New York is to be devoted.”
1917: John L. Bernstein, the President of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America said today that in almost every case that the people seeking news about family and friends living on the Eastern front and those they are seeking are, all “in dire distress.”
1917: Congregation Temple Rodeph Sholom is scheduled to continue the celebration of its 75th anniversary for a second day.
1917: “In the village of Komorow, near Lublin, Poland, Irving and Rachel Edelstein, gave birth Harry Edelstein, the husband of “the former Frances Trost” with whom he had two children and shared the ownership of the Polish Tea Room. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi) https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/nyregion/15edelstein.html
1917: In Bromberg, the Province of Posen which was part of Germany at this time, Elizabeth (Freundlich) and Alex Zadek gave birth to opera star Hilde Zadek.
1918: In Brooklyn, Anna (née Herman) and Phillip Grossel gave birth to their only child Ira Gossel who gained fame as Jeff Chandler the classically handsome matinee idol played everything from the Indian chief Cochise Broken Arrow to the workaholic skipper in the World War II thriller Away All Boats. To paraphrase one critic, goyisha face on a yiddisha kup.
1918: First meeting of the American Jewish Congress. An advocacy group, the American Jewish Congress supports a variety of causes including civil rights for all minorities and women as well as causes one might normally associate with a Jewish organization.
1918: Efforts to break the monolithic opposition to Zionism of Jerusalem’s Orthodox community met with success at the founding meeting of a group of senior rabbis, who in defiance of the ultra-Orthodox rabbis set up a Joint Sephardic - Ashkenazi Council which was the first breach in the Orthodox community’s strong and united opposition to Zionist institutions.
1918(12th of Tevet, 5679): After 21 years of marriage, Clara Engels the wife of German classical scholar Friedrich Münzer passed away during the Influenza Epidemic.
1918: Addressing the campaign workers for the $5,000,000 Jewish War Relief drive at the Hotel Biltmore, Felix M. Warburg, Chairman of the Campaign Committee, advocated that campaigns of a sectarian character be hereafter abolished and announced that the drive would be extended for two days.
1919: Birthdate of Max B. Yasgur, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants whose farm was the site of the famous Woodstock Happening in 1969.
1919: “Felix M. Warburg, Chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee for American Funds for Jewish War Sufferers announced that a commission of three Americans will leave shortly for the Ukraine to investigate conditions of the Jews there and to take steps toward carrying out relief.”
1920: Today, Bishop Bonaventure F. Broderick wrote a letter expressing his “abhorrence of the anti-Jewish campaign now being conducted in this country” which is surely an “attempt to stir up race and religious prejudices.
1921: In Providence, Rhode Island, Jack and Sadie Davis gave birth to Maurice Davis, the Reform Rabbi active in the Civil Rights movement and combating the impact of cults who was the husband of Marion Cronbach, the son-in-law of Rose Hentil and Abraham Cronbach.
1921(14th of Kislev, 5682): Just 19 days before his 39th birthday, Edward Isaac Ezra, “a wealthy Jewish businessman who was the first Chinese-born member of the Shanghai Municipal Council” passed away in Shanghai.
1922(25th of Kislev, 5683): Chanukah
1922(25th of Kislev, 5683): Seventy-nine year old Michael Umstadter. one of the pioneering businessmen in Norfolk, VA and the first president of that city’s Retail Merchants Association who was the inventor of “a new and valuable improvement in Jacquard Attachments for the Embroidering Machine” which he assigned to the Old Dominion Manufacturing Company and the husband of Essie M. Umstadter passed away today.
1922: Birthdate of DJ Alan Freed, the man who claimed to have coined the term “rock-n-roll” and who lost out in the payola scandal of the 1950’s.
1922: Birthdate of Professor Phillip Rieff, author of Freud: The Mind of the Moralist and the father of author David Rieff.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/us/04rieff.html
http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/ead/detail.html?id=EAD_upenn_rbml_PUSpMsColl1006
1922: Birthdate of Buffalo, NY native and Indiana University graduate Elliot Joseph Cohen who gained fame as novelist and screenwriter Elliot Baker, author of A Fine Madness.
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/obituaries/21baker.html?searchResultPosition=2
1923: In Bavaria, Rachel Hellman, the daughter of Rabbi Isaac Seckel Bamberger and Julie Judith Bamberger and Mortiz Hellmann, gave birth to Norbert Hellman
1923:Birthdate of Gotthard Glass who would gain famed as Uziel “Uzi” Gal. The German-born Israeli gun designer best remembered as the designer and namesake of the Uzi submachine gun. Gal was born in Weimar, Germany. When the Nazis came to power in 1933 he moved first to England and later, in 1936, to Kibbutz Yagur in the British Mandate of Palestine. In 1943 he was arrested for illegally carrying a gun and sentenced to six years in prison. However he was pardoned and released in 1946, serving less than half of his sentence. Gal began designing the Uzi submachine gun in 1948, shortly after the Israel War of Independence. In 1951 it was officially adopted by the Israeli Defense Force and was called the Uzi after its creator. Gal did not want the weapon to be named after him but his request was ignored. In 1955 he was decorated with Tzalash HaRamatkal and in 1958, Gal was the first person to receive the Israel Security Award, presented to him by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion for his work on the Uzi. In 1975 Gal retired from the IDF, and the next year he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so that his daughter Tamar, who had serious brain damage, could receive special medical attention. Gal continued his work as a firearms designer until his death from cancer in 2002.
1924: Birthdate of Polish-born British violinist Ida Haendel.
1924: In Saarlouis, Germany Rudolf Loewy who “was a teacher and a cantor” and his wife Margarethe gave to Esther Loewy who gained famed as Esther Bejaranao, the 18 year old accordion player in the women’s orchestra at Auschwitz who used music and words to speak out against fascism and racism. (As reported by Richard Sandomir)
1925: “The Plastic Age” a silent film produced by B.P. Schulberg was released in the United States today.
1926: Sixty-seven year old Paul Haupt, the German born Professor of Semitic languages at Johns Hopkins University who “projected and edited the Polychrome Bible, a critical edition of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, and a new English translation with notes. A unique feature of this edition is the use of different colors to distinguish the various sources and component parts in the Old Testament books” passed away today in Baltimore, MD
1927: In Pottstown, PA, Max Strom, “a foreman at a bakery” and his wife Bessie gave birth Earl “Yogi” Strom the Coast Guard Veteran who in 1957 began his career as an NBA referee – a role in which he was considered to be one of the best of all times.
http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/earl-strom/
1927: The struggle for work turned violent during the citrus harvest in Petah Tikvah. Jewish workers, seeking employment, protest against the hiring of Arab labor by the farmers. Demonstrations and an attack on the Agricultural Committee lead to the intervention of the British police. Workers are beaten and injured. Some are arrested and sentenced to several weeks’ imprisonment.
1928(2nd of Tevet, 5689): Parashat Miketz; 8th Day of Chanukah
1928: Birthdate of Ida Haendel, the native of Chelm who became a world-class violinist in Great Britain where she played for factory workers and military personnel
http://www.thirteen.org/publicarts/violin/haendel.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGXArQJA3Po
1928: In New York City, Anna and Irving Rosenthal gave birth to Stanley Herbert Ross, the producer-engineer who co-founded Hollywood's Gold Star Recording Studio, which has a storied place in rock history as the home of Phil Spector's innovative "Wall of Sound" technique.
1929: In Manhattan, Bernard K. Marcus, the President of Bank of the United States, a lower East Side financial institution and the former Libby Phillips gave birth to James S. Marcus the future chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Opera.
1930(25th of Kislev, 5691): As the Great Depression worsens, the first day of Chanukah
1930: Seventy-five year old Meier Dizengoff sought re-election as Mayor of Tel Aviv in contest that pits him against Laborite Joseph Aronwitz. Dizengoff was one of the original founders of the city in 1909 and is noted for donating his salary to municipal projects not funded by the city.
1931: One day after he had passed away, funeral services are schedule to be held this afternoon for 49 year old University of Moscow trained internal medicine specialist Dr. Nathan Alpert the Minsk born son of Rabbi Moses Leo and Martha Perelman (Disraeli) Alpert and husband of Fannie Coleman followed by internment at the Ohel Yakov Beth Israel Cemetery in Baltimore, MD.
1932: Birthdate of Bronx native Elain Radoff, who gained fame as composer and music educator Elain Barkin, the wife of George J. Barekin with whom she had three sons – Victor, Jesse and Gabriel
1932: It was reported today Dr. Israel H. Levinthal of the Brooklyn Jewish Center, Rabb Israel Goldfarb of Beth Israel Anshe Emeth and Rabbi Joseph Miller of Congregation Shaare Torah of Flatbush have issued “a call for a conference of Brooklyn rabbis, presidents and representative of Brooklyn congregations” “which will have as its purposed the organization of Brooklyn congregations for united activity in dealing with some of the more difficult problems facing Jewish religious life in the borough.”
1933(27th of Kislev, 5694): Third Day of Chanukah
1933(27th of Kislev, 5694): Fifty-one year old Louis Seigman Ehrich, the son of Corenlia C. Sampson Ehrich and Louis Seigman Ehrich , the husband of Florence Loeb Ehrich and the father of Louis and Benjamin Ehrich passed away today after which he was buried in the Beth Elohim Cemetery in Georgetown, SC.
1933:”The Tunnel” a “French-German science fiction film directed by Curtis Bernhardt” was released in Germany and France today.
1933: After having already been released in the United Kingdom, “I Was a Spy,” a “British thriller” produced by Michael Balcon with music by Louis Levy was released today in the United States
1933: Five hundred people including Rabbi Joshua Trachtenberg of Easton, PA and Rabbi Harry Caplan of Allentown, PA attended the ceremonies marking the installation of Rabbi Samuel Perlman as the new spiritual leader of the Brith Sholom Community Center of Bethlehem, PA.”
1933: After premiering in the UK in September, “I was a Spy” a British thriller produced by Michael Balcon was released in the United States today.
1934: Birthdate of Maquoketa, IA native Henry George von Mauer, a member of the family that founded the department store chain that bore the family name.
1934: “Murder in the Clouds” which “was notable as the screenplay and original story was written by Dore Schary” the future head of production at MGM and produced by Samuel Bischoff was released in the United States today by Warner Brothers.
1935: Portrait painter Harry Solon, the San Francisco born son of Bertha and Meyer Solon, sailed from Argentina today to resume his work in the United States after a four year stay in Buenos Aires where he enjoyed great success.
1935: “Disorder Spread in Poland” published today predicted that “anti-Jewish riots in the Fall may become a tradition in Warsaw colleges” since “new students just out of his school still drunk with their newly won freedom are easy prey to nationalist anti-Semitic propaganda.
1936(1st of Tevet, 5697): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1936: “A conference of Christian leaders interested in finding a refuge in Palestine for Jews suffering persecution abroad” is scheduled to “take place in the Hotel Astor from 1:30 to 5 P.M. under the auspices of the Pro-Palestine Federation of America.”
1936: “The Pro-Palestine Federation of America, a Christian organization, criticized British policy” in Palestine “in a resolution adopted” today “at a luncheon conference on ‘the Jewish problem’ at the Hotel Astor.”
1936: “Zionist worries over one of the two dangers confronting the future development of the Jewish national home -- the proposed law restricting Jewish land purchases, a danger equal only to the suggested curtailment of Jewish immigration in Palestine -- loomed large at today's session of the British Royal Commission. Dr. Bernard Joseph…testified that he believed there was no justification for restricting the sale of land by small holders…He that in fifty years Jews had bought about 5 per cent of the total area of Palestine. At that rate…it will take 150 years to buy half the land in the country if Beersheba is excluded.”
1937: The Palestine Post reported that 13 Jews were wounded when Arab terrorists ambushed a bus between Haifa and Nahalal. Another bus was fired on near Castel. Arab terrorists tried to kill the mayor of Nablus, Suleiman Tukan.
1937: A Jewish guard, Haim Berger, was wounded in Tiberias, and Eliahu Gadi was shot and wounded near Kibbutz Ramat Rahel. Two Arabs were sentenced to death for the murder of Mendel Mintz on
1938 David Robert Altman, the Milwaukee born son of Robert and Jeanette Altman who in 1937 “had entered the International Brigade where he “served with the XV BDE, Mackenzie-Papineau BN” “returned to the US today aboard the Paris.”
1938: The Dutch government closed its border to refugees which had an especially detrimental effect on Jews seeking to escape from Hitler’s Germany, its next door neighbor.
1939: Gauleiter Hans Frank launched an action aimed at shipping rural Jews to large Polish cities where they would be the tight control of the SS. Tens of thousands of Jews would be rounded up, transported or force-marched into specially designated urban ghettos.
1939: World premiere of "Gone with the Wind" in Atlanta, Georgia. This is another example of Jews creating a pop culture icon. Consider the following: David O. Selznick was he Producer. Leslie Howard played Ashley Wilkes. Ben Hecht helped to write the screenplay. And Max Steiner wrote the music. There may be more but this is all that I could find for sure. Leslie Howard was an English Jew born Leslie Howard Steiner who was reportedly involved in anti-Nazi activities including clandestine work for British intelligence that may have been the cause for his civilian aircraft being shot down by the Nazis over the Bay of Biscay. Hecht was a Zionist whose work to aid the suffering Jews of Europe included two notable efforts “We Will Never Die” and “A Flag is Born.” Such were his efforts that one of the ships smuggling supplies to pre-state Israel was the S.S. Ben Hecht.
1939: In his continued challenge of the White Paper, Churchill, who is now a member of the British War Cabinet, wrote to Malcolm MacDonald seeking to limit the “draconian restrictions on future Jewish land purchases” contained in the new Land Ordinance.
1939: The Jews are required to pay “an additional installment of 200,000,000 marks” to the Reich which will probably be paid, in part, in shares of stock.
1940: “Led by Inky Lautmean who scored 10 points, the Philadelphia Sphas defeated the New York Jews in American Basketball League game at the St. Nicholas Palace tonight.
1940: Birthdate of Gabriel Oliver Koppell the Bronx native and the son of refugees from Nazi Germany who served on the New York City Council and as New York State Attorney General.
1941(25th of Kislev, 5702): First Day of Chanukah; in the evening kindle the second candle
1941: Bill of Rights Day Proclamation which read “Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate December 15, 1941, as Bill of Rights Day. And I call upon the officials of the Government, and upon the people of the United States, to observe the day by displaying the flag of the United States on public buildings and by meeting together for such prayers and such ceremonies as may seem to them appropriate” was issued today.
1941: After Germans and “local Ukrainian nationalists” had killed 1,000 intellectuals and professionals in August, and “10,000 more on the night of October 12,” the Germans established a ghetto today at Stanislawow which would lead to the extermination of a Jewish population that had lived “in the town since 1662.”
1941: Members of a Latvian SD guard platoon, units of the 21st Latvian police battalion, and members of the Schutzpolizei-Dienstabteilung (German security police) under the command of the local SS and Police Leader Fritz Dietrich began a two day killing spree during which they murdered almost 3,000 Jews at Skede, Latvia. (As recorded at Yad Vashem)
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/december/06.asp
1941: In Latvia, “the largest of the Liepāja massacres” began today.
1941: On this first day of Chanukah, 15 Jews are shot to death in the courtyard of the Warsaw Ghetto prison.
1941: Forty Polish Jews were shot by the Nazis on Chanukah in Paris.
1942: Faked, upbeat postcard messages arrive at Jewish homes in Holland from friends and relatives interned at Auschwitz and the Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, camp/ghetto.
1943: It was reported today that “Rabbi Barnett R. Brickner, the administrative chairman of the Committee on Army and Navy Religious Activities of the National Jewish Welfare Board” has said that the “morale among troops he has visited is surprisingly good’ and that although “they have their gripes, none of them are serious”
1944: The Keys of the Kingdom, the movie version of the novel by the same name directed by John Stahl and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz who also co-authored the script and with music by Alfred Newman was released today in New York.
1944:In a speech given on the floor of the United States Senate, Guy M. Gillette of Iowa urged that all possible steps be taken to rescue the approximately 1,500,000 Jews whom he said were still living in territory held by the Axis. Senator Gillette also urged that the Allies adopt a resolution making crimes against Jews in Europe punishable as war crimes
1945: Birthdate of Fiamma Nirenstein, Italian born journalist who, although a resident of Gilo would be elected to the Italian Parliament in 2008.
1945: Robert Merrill (born Moishe Miller) made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Germont” today.
1945: At approximately
1946(22nd of Kislev, 5707): Eighty-four year old Maud Nathan passed away. Born in 1862, she was an American social worker, labor activist and suffragist for women's right to vote. “She came from a prominent New York family, descended from Gershom Mendes Seixas, minister of New York's Congregation Sherith Israel during the Revolutionary War. Her sister was the author and education activist Annie Nathan Meyer and her cousins the poet Emma Lazarus and Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo. Her nephew was the author and poet Robert Nathan.”
1946: Pearl and Samuel Cohen celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Brooklyn today.
1946: Today, Shirley Wasserman, the daughter of Samuel Wasserman married Robert A. Yohai.
1946: The World Zionist Congress suspends six members of Zionist Revisionist Union of America for unauthorized request to UN for discussion of Palestinian problem.
1946: Six weeks after premiering in London, “A Matter of Life and Death,” co-directed, co-produced and co-written by Emeric Pressburger was released today in the United States.
1947(2nd of Tevet, 5708): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1947:Nearly 25,000 children, the number brought to Palestine through the Hadassah Youth Aliyah immigration movement since its inception thirteen years ago, will enter Palestine in the coming year, Dr. Vera Weizmann, wife of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, scientist and Zionist leader, said today
1948: A flight of Spitfires took off from Czechoslovakia as part of a clandestine operation to bring modern aircraft to Israel.
1948:Israel breaks off negotiation for local truce agreements and demands future peace talks for all of Palestine.
1949: The UN Trusteeship Council proposes to censure Israel for moving its government. It also asks Israel to help UN draft charter for city.
1950: Birthdate of Jeffrey Katzenberg, former Disney executive who help found DreamWorks.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli army headquarters compiled a list of all US citizens serving in the IDF who would lose their US citizenship on
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that Dov Shilansky was sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment for trying to bomb the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Jerusalem in protest against the acceptance of German reparations.
1952: “Two’s Company” a revue “directed by Jules Dassin and choreographed by Jerome Robbins” opened at the Alvin Theatre where it ran for 90 performances.
1953(9th of Tevet, 5714): Fifty-two year old Everett, MA native Abraham Theodore Alpert who earned was awarded an A.B. from Harvard in 1922 passed away today.
1954: “The Country Girl” the movie version of Clifford Odets play produced by William Pearlberg had its world premiere tonight at the Criterion Theatre in New York City.
1955: A torch commemorating the victory of the Maccabees over their Syrian oppressors was kindled at a special Hanukkah festival at Madison Square Garden.
1955: The annual to raise $250,000 for the Federation of the Handicapped of which Milton Cohen is executive director is scheduled to come to an end today.
1955: “The Man with the Golden Arm” the movie version of the Nelson Algren’s award novel of the same name directed and produced by Otto Preminger, with music by Elmer Bernstein and co-starring Arnold Stang was released in the United States today.
1958(4th of Tevet, 5719): Wolfgang Pauli passed away. Born in 1900, Pauli was an Austrian-born American winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1945 for his discovery in 1925 of the Pauli Exclusion Principle, which states that in an atom no two electrons can occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. This principle clearly relates the quantum theory to the observed properties of atoms.
1959: NBC broadcast “Cindy’s Fella” the eleventh episode in the Startime series for which Music Corporation of America under the leadership of Lew Wasserman got performers who did not usually do television to perform on the small screen.
1960: Release date for the film “Exodus.”
1960: In a testament to the popularity the products produced by Isaac Heller and his company Remco, it was reported today that ‘while the snow fell this morning paralyzing New York City, a little boy climbed in Santa’s lap and piped ‘I wanted Fighting Lady battleship by Remco.’”
1961: United Artists released “One, Two, Three” a comedy written by I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder and directed and produced by Wilder.
1961: Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court. Eichmann had been convicted of crimes against humanity and would be the only person sentenced to by Israel to date.
1962: Final production of “Harold” directed by Larry Blyden.
1963: Birthdate of actress Helen Slater. Born Helen Schlacter she is best known for her work in Supergirl.
1964: U.S. premiere of “Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte” the successful horror film with a script co-authored by Lukas Heller.
1964: “I Had a Ball” a Jack Lawrence and Jerome Chodorov musical starring Buddy Hackett “opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre.”
1965(21stof Kislev, 5726): Manufacturer and philanthropist Isaac Aaronoff who was an ardent supporter of Israel passed away today.
1965: Sixty-one year old Dallas native Evelyn Asinoff, who moved to New York where she participated in numerous volunteer projects including serving as Secretary of the Women’s Auxiliary Board of Mt. Sinai Hospital passed away today.
1965: “The Flight of the Phoenix” a movie version of the novel of the same name with a screenplay by Lukas Heller was released in the United States today by 20thCentury Fox.
1967: An anonymous donation was made today to the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund in memory of Felix Warburg.
1968(25thof Kislev, 5729): As the country awaits the transition from Lyndon Johnson to the newly elected Richard Nixon, first day of Chanukah,
1969: NBC broadcast the 15th episode of “My World and Welcome to It” a sitcom created by Melville Shavelson.
1969: Shlomo Hillel replaced Eliyahu as Minster of Public Security.
1969:Ze'ev Sherf succeeded Mordechai Bentov and Minster of Housing and Construction.
1969: Yosef Goldschmidt became an MK as a replacement for Yosef Burg.
1970: Joseph B. Levin represented the petitioner National Assn. of Securities Dealers, Inc before the Supreme Court today.
1970: “There’s a Girl in My Soup” co-starring Goldie Hawn and Peter Sellers, a descendant of Daniel Mendoza was released in the United States today.
1970:Sylva Zalmanson and Eduard Kuznetzov were among those who went on trial today in the Soviet Union because they wanted to hijack a plane so they could fly to Israel and live “freely as Jews.”
1971(27th of Kislev, 5732): Paul Pierre Lévy passed away. Born in 1886, he was a French mining engineer and mathematician. He contributed to probability, functional analysis, partial differential equations and series. He also studied geometry. In 1926 he extended Laplace transforms to broader function classes. He undertook a large-scale work on generalized differential equations in functional derivatives.
1972(10th of Tevet, 5733): Asara B’Tevet
1972: One day after he had passed, funeral services are scheduled to be held at Temple Sinai in Summit, NJ for seventy-two year old cellist Maurice Eisenberg who had suffered a mortal heart attack at the Juilliard School.
https://academic.oup.com/ml/article-abstract/XXXIX/2/185/1072033?redirectedFrom=PDF
http://www.cello.org/heaven/bios/eisenap.htm
1973: Under the leadership of newly elected president Dr. Alfred M. Freedman, the board of trustees the American Psychiatric Association voted 13 to 0, with two abstentions, in favor of the resolution, which stated that “by itself, homosexuality does not meet the criteria for being a psychiatric disorder.” This was a landmark step on the path to declaring that homosexuality was not a mental illness.
1974(1st of Tevet, 5735): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1974(1stof Tevet, 5735): Seventy-two year old Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-born, American filmmaker passed away. “Anastasias” – a film based on the myth that one of the Czar’s daughter survived starring Yul Brynner, Ingrid Bergman and Helen Hayes – was one of his more lasting cinematic efforts.
1974(1st of Tevet, 5735): Cartoonist Harry Hershfield, the native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa who was called “the Jewish Will Rogers” passed away at the age of 89.
http://www.lambiek.net/artists/h/herschfield_h.htm
1974: U.S. premiere of “Young Frankenstein” directed by Mel Brooks, written by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, and starring Gene Wilder, Mary Feldman and Madeline Kahn.
1974(1st of Tevet, 5735): Erich Walter Sternberg German-born Israeli composer passed away in Tel Aviv at the age of 83. The Berlin native was one of the early contributors to what would become the Israeli musical world having begun his work in the pre-state days of the 1930’s and 1940’s.
1975: Dr. Immanuel Jakobovitz, the Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth, began a nine day visit to the Soviet Union.
1975: Today Fred “Freiberger was confirmed as both script editor and producer for the second series of the British science-fiction TV series Space: 1999, recruited in part to make the series more appealing to the American market.”
1977: Today, the Detroit Pistons fired Herb Brown, the brother of legendary coach Larry Crown, “after a 9-15 start to the 1977-1978 NBA season
1978:After having premiered five days ago in Washington, DC, “Superman” the movie that brought to the big screen the comic hero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster and directed by Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg) was released throughout the United States today.
1979(25thof Kislev, 5740): Parashat Vayeshev First day of Chanukah
1979: Two Palestinians connected to the Munich Olympics Massacre, Ali Salem Ahmed and Ibrahim Abdul Aziz, were killed in Cyprus
1979: Birthdate of actor Adam Bordy whose film credits include “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and “American Pie 2.”
1980: In Moscow, premier of the documentary “Zionism Street.”
1980: Through a Warranty Deed, James A. and Betty J. McClellen conveyed the Temple Israel property in Leadville, CO to Harvey/Martin Construction.
1983: In Tiberias, Israel, Brigadier General Richard Heaslip who was serving with UNIFL and his wife gave birth to Irish rugby player Jamie Heaslip.
1983(9th of Tevet, 5744): Sixty-one year old “Nat Shapiro, a writer, record producer and artist manager who was active in numerous aspects of the music and recording fields, died” of an apparent heart attack today. (As reported by John S. Wilson)
1983: “Gorky Park” film version of the book by the same name co-produced by Hawk Koch and Uri Harkham was released in the United States today.
1983:Wendy Wasserstein's "Isn't It Romantic" premiered in New York.
1983: Refusnik Vladimir Albert went on trial today.
1983: After being released more than eight weeks ago in the United States “Never Say Never,” one of the films in the James Bond series, directed by Irvin Kershner and produced by Jack Schwartzman was released in the United Kingdom today.
1984(21stof Kislev, 5745): Sixty-five year old Bernard Lebovitz, the Toledo, OH, born son of “Adolph and Charlotte ‘Sadie’ Lebovitz” passed away today in Los Angeles.
1984(21st of Kislev, 5745): Eighty year old cantor turned operatic tenor Jan Peerce passed away today. (As reported by Harold C. Schonberg)
1987(24thof Kislev, 5748): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah.
1987: It was reported today that “Manhattan's most troubled families often wind up in Family Court before Judge Judith B. Sheindlin” who would gain fame as television’s Judge Judy
1989: “We’re No Angels” a comedy with a script written by David Mamet was released in the United States today.
1989(15thof Kislev, 5750): Seventy-nine year old scriptwriter and victim of the “blacklist” Ben Barzman passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/21/obituaries/ben-barzman-dead-scriptwriter-was-79.html
http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/culture/tender_comrades.htm
1990(28thof Kislev, 5751): Parashat Miketz; Fourth Day of Chanukah
1990: In “Candles In Saudi Arabia” Ari L. Goodman described the observance of Chanukah in the desert oil kingdom.
Tonight is the fifth night of Hanukkah and, in a few select spots in Saudi Arabia, American soldiers who are Jewish will be discreetly lighting candles on their menorahs to celebrate the holiday, as they have since Hanukkah began Tuesday night. In accordance with military policy, celebrations of Hanukah as well as Christmas will be muted in deference to the Muslim nation's beliefs. There are from 500 to 800 Jewish soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen in the American force in Saudi Arabia, according to Rabbi David Lapp, director of the JWB Jewish Chaplains Council. He said there are currently two Jewish chaplains on the land and two at sea in the Persian Gulf area. Hundreds of menorahs, candles and Hanukkah gifts were sent by Jewish organizations, schools and individuals in advance of the holiday, although, again out of deference to the Saudis, some were careful not to ship products made in Israel. The Saudis have allowed the shipments. Margery Wise, the owner of the Jewish Quarter, a Judaica shop in White Plains, N.Y., that shipped 300 menorahs to members of the armed forces, said she got the idea after watching a news program about Christmas gift packages being prepared for shipment. "People don't think there are many Jews in the military, but there are a lot more than we think," she said. "And because the whole celebration is low key, we wanted to be sure they wouldn't get lost in the shuffle."
1990: Three Israelis were stabbed and killed in an aluminum factory in Jaffa today, the police said, and widespread anti-Arab rioting followed. The police set up roadblocks and closed off an area surrounding the factory in this city adjacent to Tel Aviv, saying they were looking for two Palestinian assailants from the occupied Gaza strip whom they refused to identify.
1991: In “The Man in The Glass Closet,” published today, Andrew Sarris reviewed a biography of the Hungarian born Jewish director George Cukor – George Cukor: A Double Life by Patrick McGilligan.
1992(20th of Kislev, 5753): Hamas terrorists kidnapped Nissim Toledano, an Israeli Army Sergeant.
1992(20th of Kislev, 5753):Ninety-six year old “Simon M. Jaglom, a New York businessman and financier, died today at New York University Medical Center. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/19/obituaries/simon-m-jaglom-financier-96.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm
1993: Rena Sofer appeared for the first time on “General Hospital” in the role of Lois Cerullo, a part she would play for almost three years.
1993: After having premiered in Washington, DC in November, “Schindler’s List” was released in the United States.
1994: As part of free phone lines set up for the holidays by the Teleport Communications Group, 91 year old Ann Kaufmann was able to call friends in Israel today.Through her call, Olga Reichman learned that she had become a great aunt, her niece in Tel Aviv having given birth three weeks ago to a daughter, Noa.
1994: In Ireland, Mervyn Taylor began serving Minister for Equality and Law Reform.
1995: “Heat” a crime film directed, produced and written by Michael Mann was released in the United States by Warner Bros.
1996(5thof Tevet, 5757): Eighty-eight year old mystery writer Harry Kemelman creator “Rabbi David Small” passed away today. (As reported by Eric Pace)
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/18/books/harry-kemelman-88-mystery-novelist-dies.html
1996(5th of Tevet, 5757): Ninety-five year old “Joseph Ades, a self-made businessman and investor who was a leading supporter of Sephardic Jewish life and philanthropy in Israel and the New York City area, passed away today at his home in Kings Point, L.I. (As reported by Wolfgang Saxon)
1997: Janet Rosenberg Jagan, the widow of Cheddi Jagan and the daughter of middle class Jewish parents from Chicago was elected President of Guyana
https://jwa.org/thisweek/dec/15/1997/janet-jagan
1998: “The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better” “singer-songwriter Carly Simon's 23rd album” was released today.
1999: In a press release issued today, Eden Springs said that the agreement to sell up to 25 percent of the company to Aqua International Partners, a $300 million investment fund in San Francisco, happened to be made public on the day peace talks between Syria and Israel began in Washington was “a mere coincidence.” Eden Springs Israel's biggest water-bottling plant last and is located on the Golan Heights.
2000(18th of Kislev, 5761): W. (Bill) Birnbaum, Professor Emeritus of mathematics and statistics at the University of Washington passed away at his home in at the age of 97. He is survived by his wife, Hilde, their children, Ann and Richard, and their grandson, Eli. Zygmund
2000: “What Women Want” a romantic comedy directed and co-produced by Nancy Meyers and featuring Bette Midler, Mark Feuerstein, Lisa Edelstein, Logan Lerman and Eric Balfour was released in the United States today.
2000: “Quills” a biopic based on the life of the Marquis de Sade directed and co-produced by Philip Kaufman
2001: “In a new form of Israeli counterterrorism, stealthy troops swept through Salfit before dawn today in a lightning raid, overwhelmed astonished Palestinian security forces, killing six, and then went door to door arresting several suspected militants.”
2002: The New York Times book section featured books by Jewish authors and/or about subjects of Jewish interest including Girl Meets God:On the Path to a Spiritual Lifeby Lauren F. Winner and Jew In America:My Life and a People's Struggle for Identityby Arthur Hertzberg.
2003: Hamodia revolutionized the American community with its introduction of a daily edition.
2003: New York-based Bank Leumi USA, a subsidiary of Israel's Bank Leumi le-Israel, announced it opened an office in Los Angeles as part of its expansion. The new Los Angeles office, together with the bank's already existing operations in Beverly Hills and Encino, will aim to bring the bank's international, private and commercial banking services to the Los Angeles community, a bank statement said.
2004(3rdof Tevet, 5765): 8th and final day of Chanukah
2004: “Calling the death of the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat "an opportunity we should not miss," the Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, called today for both the Palestinians and the Syrians to show they are ready for peace with Israel.”
2005: Today Jeff “Zucker was promoted by NBC to Chief Executive Officer of NBC Universal Television Group.”
2006(24th of Kislev, 5767): In the evening, Jews all of the world light the first candle marking the start of Chanukah.
2006: The owners of Bens De Luxe Delicatessen and Restaurant agreed to sell to SIDEV Realty Corporation and officially announced the closure, bringing the restaurant's long history to an end. Ben and Fanny Kravitz had opened what would become a Montreal landmark famous for its smoked meat sandwich in 1908.
2007: In Jerusalem, a screening of a documentary entitled “Sendler’s List” It tells the story Irina Sendler a compassionate Polish nurse who endangered her life to save 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII and the three American high school students who heard about Ms. Sandler’s heroic acts decide to travel to Poland in order to meet her.
2007: In Brooklyn, NY, at Congregation B'nai Avraham, a screening of “Yippee: A Journey to Jewish Joy.” Directed by award-winning American filmmaker, actor, and scriptwriter Paul Mazursky, “Yippee” chronicles the director’s whirlwind journey to Uman, a small Ukrainian town that is the site of a unique, annual gathering of Jewish men making pilgrimages to the burial place of Rabbi Nachman (1772-1810).
2007: In his Shabbat morning sermon at the San Diego Biennial Convention of the Reform Movement, Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie calls for a return to more traditional observances in general while calling for a renewed commitment to attending Shabbat Moring Services.
2008 (18 Kislev): On the Hebrew Calendar, Yahrzeit of Rabbi Abraham Maimuni HaNagid who passed away on the 18th of Kislev of the Hebrew year, 4998, which corresponds to the secular year 1237. Called "Rabbi Avraham ben HaRambam" he was the only son of Maimonides. Born in 1185, he succeeded his father as the leader of the Jewish community in Fostat (old Cairo), Egypt, at the young age of 19. He wrote many responses and commentaries explaining and defending his father's writings and Halachic rulings.
2008: Time magazine reports that Linda Lingle, the first Jewish governor of Hawaii has endorsed plans for California based battery maker Better Place to build more than 70,000 recharging stations for electric vehicles by 2012. Better Place which is headed by Tel Aviv entrepreneur Shai Agassi, is seeking a similar deal with other countries including Israel where there is a real “drive” to became an electric car nation.
2008: President Bush recalled Harry Truman's legacy at a reception marking Hanukkah.
Bush's Hanukkah reception Monday night, his last, featured the hanukkiyah David Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, gave to Truman in 1951, three years after the then-U.S. president was the first world leader to recognize Israel. "
2008: The Washington Post featured a review of Bones by Jonathan Kellerman (the latest in the Alex Delaware series)
2008: The IPO and counter tenor David De’or perform a special concert dedicated to the 70th anniversary celebration of Reuth a non-profit organization located in Tel Aviv that coordinates the activities of various medical centers
2009: The 1935 production of prominent Yiddish playwright Jacob Gordin’s 1892 play “The Yiddish King Lear” will be screened in Manhattan at CUNY’s Martin E. Segal Theatre Center today.
2009: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced that Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry would receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award in March 2010.
2009: Opening of “Letters of Conscience: Raphael Lemkin and the Quest to End Genocide” an exhibition organized jointly with the American Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History that “focuses on the activities and legacy of Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-American Jewish lawyer who coined the term genocide, working relentlessly and inventively to protect the rights and survival of specific groups targeted for destruction.”
2009: A King County jury this morning found Naveed Haq guilty of eight counts, including aggravated first-degree murder, in the 2006 shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.
2009: The Google logo was draped in a green flag today to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of L.L. Zamenoff.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/ll-zamenhof-and-the-shadow-people
2009(28th of Kislev, 5770): Ninety-five year old “Dr. Herbert Spiegel, a New York psychiatrist who treated pain, anxiety and addictions by putting people into a trance,” passed away today. (As reported by Benedict Carey)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/health/10spiegel.html
2010: A memorial garden in honor of William Cooper of the Yorta tribe is scheduled to be unveiled at the national Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem today. Cooper was an Aboriginal elder who protested the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis. Cooper was 77 years old when he led a small march to deliver a petition to the German consul general in Melbourne just weeks after Kristallnacht. Although Cooper and his Australian Aborigines League were denied entry to the consulate their protest did not go unnoticed, even though they were half a world away from Europe. He died in 1941 at the age of 80. He will become the first indigenous Australian to be honored by Yad Vashem.
2010: Israeli classical pianist, Ran Dank is scheduled to perform at the Morgan Museum and Library in New York City.
2010: The Women’s League Convention is scheduled to come to an end.
2010: Center for Jewish History, Yeshiva University Museum and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research are scheduled to present: “Living Record: Prewar Poland Preserved on Film”
2010: It was reported today that Time magazine had named Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg Person of the Year for 2010. Zuckerberg, 26, owns about a quarter of Facebook's shares and is, to quote Time, "a billionaire six times over." After pledging earlier this year to give $100 million to the Newark, N.J., school system, Zuckerberg last week joined the Giving Pledge--the effort led by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett to convince some of the country's richest to give away most of their wealth. Others that have joined the campaign include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, media titan Barry Diller, CNN founder Ted Turner and filmmaker George Lucas. Zuckerberg joins President Obama, Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and "You" as those who have been named Time's Person of the Year. Today, on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg commented that "Being named as Time Person of the Year is a real honor and recognition of how our little team is building something that hundreds of millions of people want to use to make the world more open and connected. I'm happy to be a part of that."
2010: According to reports published today, "The stormy weather that hit Israel this week had an unexpected consequence when an ancient Roman statue was unearthed on an Ashkelon beach. A passer-by noticed the headless marble statue, thought to be at least 1700 years old, after the storm left it exposed in the sand. The white marble figure, which is 1.2 metres tall and weighs 200 kilograms, is wearing a toga but no longer has arms. A spokesman for the Israel Antiquities Authority said that what was thought to be part of a Roman bathhouse was also unearthed. The violent winds were believed to have caused some damage to the ancient Roman ruins further north in Israel at Caesarea.
2011(19thof Kislev, 5772): “Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism.” The 19th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev is celebrated as the "the New Year of Chassidus (Hasidism)."“It was on this date, in the year 1798 that the founder of Chabad Chassidism, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1812), was freed from his imprisonment in czarist Russia. More than a personal liberation, this was a watershed event in the history of Chassidism, heralding a new era in the revelation of the “inner soul” of Torah. The public dissemination of the teachings of Chassidism had in fact begun two generations earlier. The founder of the chassidic movement, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698–1760), revealed to his disciples gleanings from the mystical soul of Torah which had previously been the sole province of select kabbalists in each generation. This work was continued by the Baal Shem Tov’s disciple, Rabbi DovBer, the “Maggid of Mezeritch”—who is also deeply connected with the date of “19 Kislev”: on this day in 1772, 26 years before Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s release from prison, the Maggid returned his soul to his Maker. Before his passing, he said to his disciple, Rabbi Schneur Zalman: “This day is our yom tov (festival).” Rabbi Schneur Zalman went much farther than his predecessors, bringing these teachings to broader segments of the Jewish population of Eastern Europe. More significantly, Rabbi Schneur Zalman founded the “Chabad” approach—a philosophy and system of study, meditation, and character refinement that made these abstract concepts rationally comprehensible and practically applicable in daily life. In its formative years, the chassidic movement was the object of strong, and often venomous, opposition from establishment rabbis and laymen. Even within the chassidic community, a number of Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s contemporaries and colleagues felt that he had “gone too far” in tangibilizing and popularizing the hitherto hidden soul of Torah. In the fall of 1798, Rabbi Schneur Zalman was arrested on charges that his teachings and activities threatened the imperial authority of the czar, and was imprisoned in an island fortress in the Neva River in Petersburg. In his interrogations, he was compelled to present to the czar’s ministers the basic tenets of Judaism and explain various points of chassidic philosophy and practice. After 53 days, he was exonerated of all charges and released. Rabbi Schneur Zalman saw these events as a reflection of what was transpiring Above. He regarded his arrest as but the earthly echo of a Heavenly indictment against his revelation of the most intimate secrets of the Torah. And he saw his release as signifying his vindication in the Heavenly court. Following his liberation on 19 Kislev, he redoubled his efforts, disseminating his teachings on a far broader scale, and with more detailed and “down-to-earth” explanations, than before. The nineteenth of Kislev therefore marks the “birth” of Chassidism: the point at which it was allowed to emerge from the womb of “mysticism” into the light of day, to grow and develop as an integral part of Torah and Jewish life.”
2011(19thof Kislev, 5772): Yahrtzeit of Rebbe Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezritch, the successor to the Baal Shem Tov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggid_of_Mezritch
2011: The third weekend of Hamshoushalayim is scheduled to begin today.
2011: Second day of the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial is scheduled to take place in suburban Maryland
2011: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice denounced the treatment Israel receives in the United Nations today, adding that American support of Israel's security was an "essential truth
2011: The Israel Defense Forces is forming a command to supervise "depth" operations, actions undertaken by the military far from Israel's borders, the army announced today.
2011:Minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed that Jewish extremists would not be allowed to spark a religious war, after a West Bank mosque was vandalized at dawn today. “We won’t let them [Jewish extremists] attack our soldiers, start a religious war, set fire to mosques [and] attack Jews or non-Jews,” the prime minister told a Likud central committee meeting in Tel Aviv tonight.
2012: “Not in Tel Aviv” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2012: The Daniel Zamir Band led by Daniel Zamir “Israeli Jazz superstar and virtuoso saxophonist” is scheduled to perform in New York City.
2012: In New York, the New Shul is scheduled to sponsor “Let There Be Light!” a flashmob Chanukah celebration that will gather at “8 Points of Light” to bring the menorah glow to the Village.
2012: List released today with names of Jewish children
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=296064
2013: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Leonard Bernstein Letters edited by Nigel Simeone, My Mistake: A Memoir by Daniel Menaker and America’s Great Game: The CIA’s Secret Arabists and the Shaping of the Modern Middle East by Hugh Wilford.
2013: YIVO is scheduled to sponsor “Music Treasures of the American Yiddish Theatre” part of the Sidney Young Artist Concert Series featuring the works of big four of Second Avenue:” Abraham Ellstein, Alexander Olshanetsky, Sholom Secunda and Joseph Rumshinsky
2013:The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to show the Emmy Award winning film “Skokie: Invaded, But Not Conquered”
2013: Rabbi Alexis Berk is scheduled to officiate at the graveside services at Hebrew Rest Ceremony for Attorney Milton Cohen, a lifelong resident of New Orleans and Tulane alum. (As reported by Crescent City Jewish News)
2013: The Union for Reform Judaism Biennial is scheduled to come to an end today in San Diego, CA.
2013: Police finally fully reopened the main roads to and from Jerusalem this afternoon, after more than two-and-a-half days of closures because of heavy snow in one of Israel’s worst-ever storms.
2013(12thof Tevet, 5774): “A Lebanese army sniper killed an Israeli soldier at the border fence near Rosh Hanikra tonight.” (As reported by Yaakov Lappin)
2013: A new production of “Stars of David” which transforms interviews with Jewish figures like Gloria Steinem, Aaron Sorkin and Joan Rivers into songs” is scheduled to come to an end after opening on November 13.
2014: The Berman Jewish DataBank is scheduled to co-sponsor the first of two sessions on Jews and urbanism at the annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies in collaboration with the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry.
2014: Funeral services Rabbi Yitzchok Meyer Abramson are scheduled to take place this at the Berger Memorial Chapel followed by burial at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in Chesterfield, MO.
2014(22ndof Kislev. 5775): Eighty-four year old political pitchman and consultant David Garth passed away today.
http://nypost.com/2014/12/15/political-guru-david-garth-dies/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/15/david-garth-dead-dies_n_6329498.html
2014: “Itamar Zorman, winner of the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition and the 2010 Freiburg Violin Competition,” is scheduled to perform this evening at the Good Shepherd Church in New York.
2014: Shin Bet reported foiling a suicide bomber’s plot in Tel Aviv based on disguising the suicide bomber as a pregnant woman in need of medical help.
2014: “The Israel Antiquities Authority announced today that archaeologist have uncovered a farmhouse that is 2,800 years old consisting 23 rooms “in the area of modern day Rosh Ha’ayin. (As reported by Lazar Berman)
2015(3rd of Tevet, 5775): On the Jewish calendar, Yahrzeit of HaRav Avraham Brandwein of Stretyn who had succeeded his father as the rabbi of Stretyn, after his father’s death in 1854,
2015: A 39-year-old Palestinian construction worker stabbed a foreman and another worker at a construction site in the Israeli city of Modi'in today, marking the first attack of its kind in the city since the start of the Palestinian wave of terror. One of the victims was seriously wounded and the other sustained moderate injuries. They were rushed to a hospital.
2015(3rdof Tevet, 5775): On the Jewish calendar Yahrzeit of Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz , dean of the Mir Yeshiva for more than 40 years.
2015: “More than 300 Jewish activists in Boston marched for the Black Lives Matter movement, including members of Jewish Voice for Peace.”
2015: The Association for Jewish Studies’ 47th Annual Conference is scheduled to come an end today in Boston, MA.
2016: On tonight’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “Gad Elmaleh appeared as the show's stand-up act
2016: In New Orleans, the Jewish Children’s Regional Service is scheduled to hold its “Latkes with a Twist” a “community-wide celebration” that will include a silent auction designed to raise funds for an organizations that really does the good that it promises.
2016: Today, President-elect Donald Trump is nominated “a top Jewish surrogate, David Friedman, to be ambassador to Israel, with a statement saying Friedman will serve from Jerusalem and describing the city as “Israel’s eternal capital.”
2016: The Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute at the Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host a “presentation that will walk attendees through the history and legal basics of FOI laws, and will teach researchers how to file their own state FOI requests for any genealogical or archival records they may want to see returned to the public domain.”
2017(27thof Kislev, 5778): Third Day of Chanukah; in the evening, kindle the fourth light and erev Shabbat
2017: Seventy five year old Canadian businessman and philanthropist Bernard Charles “Barry” Sherman and his wife were “murdered today” by person or persons unkown.
2017: In Omaha, Yachad is scheduled to “at Temple Israel for their services and party.”
2017: “Omaha Yachad & KC Kollel's Ahoovim are scheduled to present: A Winter Shabbaton hosted by Chabad of Omaha
2017: The Maccabeats are scheduled to perform this evening at Congregation Ahavas Achim in Highland Park, NJ.
2017: In Atlanta, The Breman Museum, the Center for Puppetry Arts and High Museum of Art are a scheduled to present a program featuring a talk with puppet builders about they create art used for performance.”
2017: “The Worlds of Arthur Szyk” is scheduled to close today at the University of California, Berkley.
http://magnes.berkeley.edu/exhibitions/worlds-arthur-szyk
2018(7thof Tevet, 5779): Parashat Vayigash;
2018: Israeli “visual artist Keren Anavy” “in collaboration with Valerie Green/Dance Entropy” is scheduled to explore “the idea of Utopia through dance and visual art” this evening as part of the Dancespace Project.
2018: In Chevy Chase, MD, Ohr Kodesh is scheduled to host the “Sixth Annual Lewis Rushefsky Yiddish Film Series,” featuring films of the Yiddish theatre this evening
2018: As of today, exactly one year to the day on which the bodies of “billionaire couple and philanthropic powerhouses” Barry and Honey Sherman were found, the police have no viable suspect or motive for the crime but their four children – Jonathon, Lauren, Alexandra and Kaelen – have continued their parent’s good works and charity through the “Honey and Barry Foundation of Giving” they created to honor their memory.
2018: Kaddish is recited today for Sgt. Yoseph Cohen and Staff Sgt. Yovel Moyosef who were buried yesterday after having been murdered by Palestinian terrorists two days ago, December 13.
2019: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Man Who Solved The Market by Gregory Zuckerman, Battling Bella: The Protest Politics of Bella Abzugby Leandra Ruth Zarnow and Return to the Reich: A Holocaust Refugee’s Secret Mission to Defeat the Nazis by Eric Lichtblau.
2019: In Chicago, The URJ Biennial is scheduled to come to a close today.
2019: In Atlanta, the Breman is scheduled to host a walking tour of “The Temple,” the city’s oldest Jewish house of worship.
2019: The Illinois Holocaust Museum is schedule to host “Lodz Ghetto Through the Eyes of a Survivor” which is an exhibition of the work of photographer Henryk Ross.
2019: The Straus Historical Society’s Silent Auction is scheduled to come to an end today.
2019: The American Sephardi Federation with the Jewish Community of Urmia, Iran and participants from Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey are scheduled to present: International Nash-Didan (Judeo-Aramaic) Day.
2019: It was reported today that “the price tag for the next election is NIS 3.8 billion and the cumulative cost for all three national ballots is an estimated NIS 10 billion - enough to raise old-age stipends for one million pensioners in need.” (YNET)
2020(29th of Kislev, 5781): Fifth Day of Chanukah
2020: In Little Rock, AR, Governor Hustchinson is scheduled to take part in the Chabad Public Menorah Ligthing.
2020: On Bill of Rights Day, Temple Emanu-El is scheduled to host via Zoom “’legal analyst and law professor Jared Klebanow, a now-generation lawyer with experience in the classroom and courtroom, “ as he discusses “The American Constitution in the Post-Election Era.”
2020: “Celebrating 100 years since the founding of the Free Jewish Lehrhaus in Germany, HaMaqom | The Place (formerly Lehrhaus Judaica) in Berkeley is scheduled to present a talk by historian Fred Rosenbaum and Rabbi Darren Kleinberg about the school’s roots and legacy.
2020: Temple Emanuel of Newton is scheduled to present online “Hanukah in Space” during which there will be a screening of “Space Torah” followed by a question and answer session with executive producer Rachel Raz.
2020: As part of its “8 Digital Nights of Hanukah, the Jewish Museum in London is scheduled to host a presentation by Rabbi Major Reuben Livingstone, Senior Jewish Chaplain.
2020: The Illinois Holocaust Museum is scheduled to present “essayist, novelist, law professor, and child of Holocaust Survivors, Thane Rosenbaum, the author of the recently published, Saving Free Speech ... from Itself, as he takes on the cultural lighting rod of free speech and confronts the confusions and contradictions around free speech, examining what is at the heart of this pressing 21st century debate.
2021: The Museum on Eldridge Street is scheduled to host a Cinema Chat during which movie critic Michael Sragow takes part in a discussion of 2017’s award winning Hungarian drama ‘1945’ that follows two Orthodox men whose presence stirs drama in a small Hungarian town.”
2021: The Braid in partnership with the Capital Jewish Museum is scheduled to host an “Evening of Storytelling” with performance by Nadege August, Vicki Juditz, A.J. Meijer, Joshua Silverstein and Kate Zentall that “will highlight the intersection of Jewish values and activism.”
2021: As part of the Global Connections series, The American Friends of Rabin Medical Center is scheduled to present online “Combating Antisemitism’s Resurgence” during which Robert Siegel (former senior host of NPR’s “All Things Considered” for 31 years) interviews Kenneth Stern (director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate and author of “The Conflict over The Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate”); Dr. Sharon Nazarian (senior vice president of international affairs at the Anti-Defamation League); professor Ira Forman (adjunct professor on antisemitism at Georgetown’s Center for Jewish Civilization); and James Carroll (National Book Award-winning author of “Constantine’s Sword: The Church & the Jews”).”
2021: “For the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel is scheduled expand its Green Pass mandate to include shopping malls, restricting access to citizens who are not fully protected against the disease as fears of the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant mount.” (As reported by Nina Fox,and Itamar Eichner
2021” The Osher Marin JCC is scheduled to present online “A Tribute to George Gershwin” featuring singer Gilda Solve performing “An American in Paris, “Lady Be Good” and “Shall We Dance?”
2021: Boston Jewish Film is scheduled to present online a screening of “The Chef,” “the binge worthy award winning Israeli television series.